Xia Shi
Associate Professor of History and International and Area Studies
Marian Hoppin Chair of Asian Studies
Associate Professor of History and International and Area Studies
Marian Hoppin Chair of Asian Studies
Education
Ph.D., University of California, Irvine
M.A., Peking University
B.A., Beijing Normal University
Professor Shi specializes in Chinese history. Broadly speaking, she is interested in investigating traditional China’s encounters with the modern world and analyzing the social, cultural, and political reconfigurations, ruptures, and continuities that a variety of Chinese individuals and groups experienced during this process, especially during the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. She has conducted research on a variety of topics, including women and gender, the history of religions and “superstition,” the history of charity and philanthropy, environmental disaster response and relief, and the history of diplomacy and international relations. Her research has been supported by the Fulbright Scholar program, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the American Council of Learned Societies, the Henry Luce Foundation, and the Institute of International Education (IIE), among others.
Recent Courses
Chinese History to 1800
Chinese History Since 1800
East Asian Civilization
The World Since 1870: Topics and Themes in Modern World History
Women and Gender in China
The Age of Openness: China Before Mao (1912-49)
Environmental History of China
History of Food in China
Historical Methods
Selected Publications
Books
Concubines in Public: The Rise of the Social Wife in Republican China (Cambridge University Press, 2026).
At Home in the World: Women and Charity in Late Qing and Early Republican China (Columbia University Press, 2018).
Articles
“‘Madame Wellington Koo’: A Diplomatic Wife and A Peranakan Representing and Socializing for Republican China,” International Journal of Asian Studies 21, no. 1 (January 2024): 109-127.
“Spirit-Writing and Daoyuan’s Gendered Teachings,” in Communicating with the Gods: Spirit-Writing in Chinese History and Society, edited by Matthias Schumann and Elena Valussi, Leiden: Brill, 2023, 402-443.
“The Gendered Politics of Socializing and the Emergence of the ‘Public Wife’ in Late Qing Diplomacy,” Research on Women in Modern Chinese History 37 (June 2021): 139-194.
“Warlords’ Rainmaking: Religion, Science, and Legitimating Governance in Early Republican China,” Frontiers of History in China 15, no. 4 (December 2020): 520-51.
“Just Like a ‘Modern’ Wife? Concubines on the Public Stage in Early Republican China,” Social History 43, no. 2 (February 2018): 211-33.
“Stepping into the Public World: Cases of Guixiu Philanthropic Activities in Late Qing China,” Frontiers of History in China 9, no. 2 (June 2014): 247-79.